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Behavioral health facilities have changed in recent years. The institutional look has given way to more attractive and comfortable spaces
that may look more like a hotel than a hospital. Despite that, in many facilities, even newly built ones, institutional-looking safety measures remain in place. It doesn’t have to be that way to be secure, however. This presentation will introduce De-escalation by Design, a
security concept that creates spaces that are safe, calm, and therapeutic. It adapts tenets of Crime Prevention Through Environmental
Design (CPTED) to the indoor behavioral healthcare environment, and hospital emergency departments, to allow patients and staff dignity, respect, and agency. De-escalation by Design uses multiple phases of design, social programs, colors, lighting, natural surveillance,
and natural access control, and blends them with physical security technologies like cameras and access control devices. The goal of
De-escalation by Design is to defuse situations in advance so nurses and staff resort to conflict resolution and crisis intervention training as an exception, not the rule. It also creates a more aesthetic, non-institutionalized look to the environment that is more pleasant
and less stressful to live and work in. Ideally, the design work is done with architects in the concept and master plan phases, but it can
also work when renovating or retrofitting a space.